COVID-19 Precautions and Preparations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.  Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure. See more on their website here or download these instructions to make your own cloth mask. 



The Governor of Oklahoma has issued orders pertaining to all state residents and businesses. Please visit coronavirus.health.ok.gov or ok.gov to learn more about how these orders may affect you or your business. 

If your business is open, please refer to guidance from the State of Oklahoma available at okcommerce.gov  and consider this guidance from the Pittsburg County Emergency Management Center. See the 918 Pledge here.

McAlester's City Hall is open by appointment only except for public meetings. Please call 918-423-9300 to schedule your appointment. 

  • The J.I. Stipe Center at 801 N. 9th Street is closed and all activities at the site are canceled. The meals served through the Senior Nutrition Program will be distributed through pick-up and delivery services.

  • The McAlester Expo Center on Highway 270 and the Tourism Office at 119 E. Choctaw Avenue are closed to the public.

  • The Carl Albert Building at 301 E. Carl Albert Parkway is closed to non-essential visitors and municipal court procedures are postponed. Any citizen needing in-person assistance from police or dispatchers should call 918-423-1212 for direction. In case of an emergency, call 911. Anyone needing to make payments to the Municipal Court Office is advised to pay through the mail, online, or by phone at 918-421-4939, if possible.

  • The Utility Payment Window is closed. Anyone needing to make payments to the Utility Billing Office is advised to pay through the mail, online, or by phone at 918-423-9300 or through payment kiosks located at Pruett’s Grocery at 601 E. Wyandotte Ave. or the Choctaw Nation Travel Plaza at 1640 S. George Nigh Expressway. 

  • The McAlester Recycling Center is closing all operations starting at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. Citizens are unable to leave items at the drop-off facility and are asked to dispose of them in the same manner as their household trash during the closure. The shut down is the result of a lack of staffing to process recyclables paired with the closure of down-stream facilities that accept the materials from the site.
The McAlester City Council met in an emergency meeting on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, to consider resolutions related to the city’s response to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. At the end of the meeting, Mayor John Browne proclaimed a state of emergency for the city. 

  • The city manager is authorized to use the emergency fund to insulate general fund programs to cover revenue shortfalls of revenues and monthly expenditures up to $500,000.

  • The Council temporarily increased the expenditure amount the city manager can authorize from $25,000 to $50,000 before requiring a vote of the city council. The additional spending authorization is set to expire on June 30, 2020.

  • The councilors voted to authorize the city manager to provide relief to utility customers by suspending the 10-day cut off policy for utility services until July 1, 2020.
Read the resolutions.
See the emergency proclamation. 

The City of McAlester has taken several other actions in relation to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic in our area. You can see the list below:

Order Proclaiming Existence of a Civil Emergency - March 25, 2020
Order Proclaiming Existence of a Civil Emergency - March 23, 2020
Order Proclaiming Existence of a Civil Emergency - March 20, 2020

To learn more about precautions related to COVID-19, visit websites for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Oklahoma State Department of Health.